June 2011: Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman has said he will try to forge a path to the White House that doesn’t involve a top-three finish in the Iowa caucuses. If he succeeds, he’ll be the first since the caucuses came to prominence as the nation’s leadoff nominating event. Ronald Reagan came in second in Iowa in 1980 without campaigning here. But it seems more likely that Huntsman will follow in the footsteps of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who bypassed Iowa in 2008 only to be shut out before the race reached his target state of Florida. Staying away from Iowa will make it harder for Huntsman to reach a national audience. He’ll miss the August GOP debate here, and other turns in the media spotlight. Should he win the nomination, he’ll need the support in this Midwestern battleground of Republicans that he snubbed. That would be a real test of his diplomatic skills.